Italian rail travellers have faced unexpected delays in recent weeks because of an increase in the theft of copper wire along train tracks. Hundreds of trains in Rome and Turin have been delayed for at least 30 minutes as signalling equipment and safety devices have become disabled. Italy's railway operator says that some 250,000 commuters have been affected. The price of copper has tripled in the past three years, making it an attractive commodity for thieves. Usually operating at night, they have been tearing up miles of copper wire running along rail tracks. The wire is used to carry information for automatic signalling and safety equipment. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

The leader of America's Roman Catholic bishops called his colleagues Monday to fight against a coarseness that he said was infecting the church and society at large, and to unite in promoting human dignity through faith. In his opening address at the U.S. bishops' fall meeting, Bishop William Skylstad said "debasing personal attacks" have replaced healthy public debate, and that popular culture and the news media have degraded human dignity with violence and vulgar depictions of sex. "There is a mocking reduction of sexuality, debasing it from God's beautiful gift of creation to little more than casual chemistry and inconsequential recreation," said Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Sometimes it seems that people are no longer seen as children of God but as little more than a disposable commodity." ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2649390

Another Pacific storm was forecast to slam Washington and Oregon with heavy rain and high-elevation snow Monday, while the mid-Atlantic and New England regions were expected to get drenched.Snow accumulations in the Cascades could exceed a foot. Rain and snow were likely to spread into the Great Basin and Northern Rockies.Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California, as well as the Central Plains, were expected to remain dry. Light rain and snow were forecast for the Mississippi Valley.A storm strengthening off Virginia was expected to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to the East Coast. Sustained winds of 30 to 35 mph were possible with higher gusts.Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Sunday ranged from a low of minus-2 degrees at West Yellowstone, Montana, to a high of 84 degrees at Fort Lauderdale, Florida....http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/11/13/weather.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has been out of contact with Earth for more than a week. Engineers have been trying to re-establish communication with the probe, which could be showing its age after 10 years in space. The spacecraft has entered "safe mode", awaiting further instructions from controllers on Earth. Since then, the spacecraft has not confirmed receiving a command to point one of its transmitters to Earth. MGS was launched in November 1996, operating longer than any Martian craft. Carrying a powerful camera that has returned thousands of images, it has discovered features suggesting water once flowed on the desert world, and it has scoped out potential landing sites for future exploration. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6144092.stm

Christian and Muslim Britons joined forces on Monday to tell city officials to stop taking the Christianity out of Christmas, warning them that this fueled right-wing extremism.They attacked local authorities which used titles like "Winterval" for their Christmas celebrations and avoided using Christian symbols in case they offended minority groups, especially Muslims and Hindus. The question of how best to integrate Muslims into European society, which has Christian roots but is increasingly secular, has become a burning issue, with Britain playing its part in the debate after years of promoting multiculturalism. The Christian Muslim Forum, set up by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Church of England, complained that taking the Christian message out of Christmas played into the hands of right-wing extremists who then accused Muslims of undermining Britain's Christian culture. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2649383

A deer being kept in a pen attacked and killed his owner, state police said. The buck that killed Ronald Donah, 43, was among about a half dozen deer penned up on his property in Ellenburg, about 180 miles north of Albany, said state Trooper Joseph House. Details of Donah's injuries and what may have prompted the attack were not available Sunday. Maureen Wren, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said Donah had a license to keep the white tail deer on his property but did not know why he was doing so. She said deer attacks, at least in the wild, are extremely rare. Donah was taken to a local hospital, where he died. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday....http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/13/national/main2175441.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2175441